Dropping the Top 35 rule would be welcome change

CONCORD, N.C. -- Only hours after NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France stated that it was time to hold the line on changes in the Sprint Cup Series on Monday, driver Jeff Burton of Richard Childress Racing had another idea.

Burton insisted that it's time for the Top 35 rule to go. The rule, which was put in place in 2005, is designed to provide guaranteed spots in races for the teams residing in the top 35 in the owner point standings.

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"I don't know if franchising is the right word. But I believe the Top 35 rule should be a Top 43 rule," said Burton during a stop on the NASCAR Sprint media tour hosted by Lowe's Motor Speedway. "If you want to call that franchising, then call it franchising. Ultimately, we don't ask NFL teams, we don't ask Major League Baseball teams, we don't ask any other major-league form of sport that requires the kind of money that this requires to do what we ask these teams to do, where you have to come every single week and earn your way into the show. I don't think that's good for business; I don't think that's good for sponsors; I don't think that's good for fans.

"I see no negative in having 43 teams who knew they were coming to a race and knew they were going to be in the race."

Franchising is an old argument. As Burton said, call it what you will and maybe that's not the right word, but what he is saying makes sense.

Each week, the Top 35 rule leaves a dozen or more full-time teams scrambling for what usually amounts to seven open spots. The one remaining spot on the starting grid in the weekly 43-car field usually goes to a past points champion, each of whom is guaranteed six provisional starts (but only one per race).

Already 'franchising?'

Even though the governing body of NASCAR always seems to frown on the franchising concept, former points champion and current television analyst Darrell Waltrip said the Top 35 rule, in his mind, already promotes a form of it.

Asked whether he was in favor of the Top 35 rule or against it, Waltrip replied: "You know, I can go either way on that. I see the value in it. In my mind, it's a form of franchising. It's NASCAR's way of not calling it franchising, but it's franchising.

"They don't like that word; it's always been taboo. I talked about franchising when I had my own team in '95, and I got more nasty phone calls saying, 'Hey, we don't want to hear that in our sport.' But I think in my mind, the top 35 is just like having 35 franchise teams. You can sell that. We've seen that; [Bobby] Ginn sold that [last year when he "merged" Ginn Racing with Dale Earnhardt Inc.]. You can sell something when you're guaranteed a spot in the race."

Yet Waltrip said he could go the other way against having the Top 35 rule remain intact, too.

"I'm a firm believer -- and I felt this way when I was a former champion using a champion's provisional -- that it should be the fastest 43 cars. That's what racing is about; that's what competition is about; that's what this sport is about," Waltrip said.

"Back in the day we didn't get that many road-course ringers; we didn't get that many guys just showing up at Daytona or Indy. But now you do. And that's what they're trying to protect guys who run every week from -- the one-offs coming in and trying to knock off guys who race every week. So I understand the top 35 and I understand provisionals -- but I really think it would be more exciting and put more emphasis on qualifying, and make that a bigger event than it is, if you start the fastest 43." (Continued)